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Saturday, 26 July 2014

Because I Want Desperately to Be Wrong

I've been inspired to write another post, and to give WoW another go. There is still so much about the game that I love, and so much that I miss that is irrevocably gone. I feel another bout of it is necessary because I think it's in the process of suicide and I want more of it before it's gone.

Last night I was reading the comments of an article on WoW Insider, namely that the commenter wanted his bike and had to make sure he logged into the game before September 30th. This piqued my curiousity and sent me to Google. Now, I preface the rest by stating that no, I have not in fact been living under a rock for the past several months.I was well aware of the whole Azeroth Choppers thing. I watched the episodes, thought them rather stupid, but voted nonetheless, and voted Alliance 'cause Faction Pride.

So, I Googled. I found the announcement on the Official Forums of the requirement to log in prior to 30 September to have one's account flagged, read that the bike would be given once the expansion dropped, and read that only Horde characters can ride it. My jaw dropped. I Googled once more, since I fully expected the blogosphere to have blown up over this. I was mildly disappointed, but only mildly since it seems this was foreseen and has been picked to death prior to now.

What did disappoint me much more, was seeing how many blogs which I used to visit rather often have closed up shop. Many great and entertaining writers have either just stopped posting or have written their goodbyes. I'm rather sad about that.

It was, however, very interesting to read their reasons for leaving, and seeing the common threads amongst them. They are all very valid reasons individually, but they all boil down to disenchantment (or disgust) with Blizzard.

Some, such as Rades of Orcish Army Knife have just had it up to here with how utterly oblivious Blizzard is to the image it is projecting to it's female customers. Others, such as Gazimoff of Mana Obscura feel that Blizzard has abandoned it's story arc. For certain, Blizzard is not the company we once knew, or thought we knew. It seems to me that Metzen and company have become rather too impressed with themselves, and have developed an unhealthy level of arrogance.

Once they were the little guys. They built up a fanbase and grew into a Goliath. Problem is, they've forgotten how and why they got to where they are. They got here by nuturing their players, by listening to concerns and acting appropriately where needed. They got here by developing an amazing story. They didn't get here by disrespecting the people whose subs pay the bills. They didn't get 12 million players with crappy, tangential stories. They didn't get here by shitting on half their playerbase (be it Alliance or females).

The thread of the story has gotten lost, and the arrogance which permeates the company is mind boggling. Metzen and Didier believe their own hype and Morhaime is powerless to do anything about them. They have run off the rails.

Now, I've never met any of the Blizzard Boys, and I likely never will, but with how things are developing, that really doesn't bother me one iota. Well to be honest, I'd like Metzen to honestly and completely answer one question: "What the fuck is your problem, and what the hell were you thinking?". Okay, technically that's two questions. I would like some sort of epiphany moment to occur so that this behemoth called WoW can recover and thrive.

It's been said that the only thing that could kill WoW would be WoW, and unfortunately that seems to be what is happening.

So, back I come one more time.

That may sound rather stupid given what I've said above, but I really really want to be wrong. I want a mea culpa moment. I want institutional change to happen and for these so called 'geeks' to stop being knuckle-dragging mouth breathers. I want the ship righted and the story to continue to the feet of Sargeras.

I still love the graphics. I love the zone design and the music, the artwork and all the little touches that the artists and designers put into the world. The food out of the kitchen is still marvellous, even if the restaurant manager has become a dick. So I've come back for another dinner before the manager burns the place down.

Since I ruined my Inveniam experience, I'm starting over again. It's a rather plodding way to play, and I don't imagine that I'll get to Draenor while it's still current, and that suits me just fine. As I've said before, there is no hurry to do anything. Stuff gets nerfed and made less expensive over time, so my desire to be bleeding edge is utterly gone. I've reconciled myself to the fact that even though Blizzard claims to regret removing content, they still do it anyway (their prospensity to not learn from past mistakes is breathtaking). This is not even motivation enough for me to stay current. I don't cry over spilled milk or things not done. Life is too short to tie yourself up in knots over things you never did.

I'm in it for me this time. I'm smelling every damn rose on the way up. I'm thumbing my nose at how the game is 'supposed' to be played. I hate groups. I hate raiding. I loathe the gear-hamster-wheel-o-doom. So, I am not doing those things. If I can't solo it, or dual-box it, it will remain undone. I don't care.

So, I have the battlechest and I'm not upgrading until I need the next expansion. The Dudebros of Draenor can kiss my ass. When that debacle comes to a close, I'll be somewhere in Northrend reliving the absolute best of WoW (and hoping against hope that Blizzard gets their shit together). I'll tell Bolvar to start dethawing. His services are sorely needed.